[Avodah] rivash and kabalah

[Eli Turkel]

The Rivash was a student of the Ran who was not a fan of kabbalah


Encyclopedia
Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet (1326 – 1408) (Hebrew: יצחק בן ששת) was a
Spanish Talmudic authority, also know by his acronym, Rivash (ריב"ש).
He was born at Valencia and settled early in life at Barcelona where
he studied under Perez ha-Kohen, under Hasdai ben Judah, and
especially under R. Nissim ben Reuben Nissim of Gerona
 (RaN), for whom he professed throughout his life the greatest veneration..

, (The Rivash), 1326–1408. Although as is evident from his responsa on
the topic (157) the Rivash was skeptical of certain interpretations of
Kabbalah popular in his time, it is equally evident that overall he
did accept Kabbalah as received Jewish wisdom, and attempted to defend
it from attackers. To this end he cited and rejected a certain
philosopher who claimed that Kabbalah was "worse than Christianity",
as it made God into 10, not just into three. Most followers of
Kabbalah have never followed this interpretation of Kabbalah, on the
grounds that the concept of the Christian Trinity posits that there
are three persons existing within the Godhead, one of whom became a
human being. In contrast, the mainstream understanding of the
Kabbalistic Sefirot holds that they have no mind or intelligence;
further, they are not addressed in prayer and they cannot become a
human being. They are conduits for interaction, not persons or beings.
Nonetheless, many important poskim, such as Maimonidies in his work
Mishneh Torah Mishneh Torah The Mishneh Torah , subtitled Sefer Yad
ha-Chazaka , is a code of Jewish religious law by one of the important
Jewish authority Maimonides...


As to Aristotle I dont think anyone really takes seriously that he
converted or learned from Jeremiah.
Note Rambam when praising Aristotle does not make any such claims

-- 
Eli Turkel